Reading Strategy

After more than a decade away from studying the fundamentals of what our new Army strategist officers (Functional Area 59, or FA59) are taught in the Basic Strategic Art Program (BSAP) at the US Army War College, I’m diving back in at my own pace. The below is a chronicle of the readings, if you want to follow along.

Note: I’ll post the major readings, but there are a host of other items that add flavor and nuance to the basic syllabus that won’t be covered here.

Week 1 - Foundations

• Nathan K. Finney, On Strategy: A Primer (Leavenworth, KS: Army University Press, 2020) - focus on J.P. Clark and Francis Park, “Practical Strategists: The Perspective and Craft of the General Staff Officer,” pp. 115-126.

• Hal Brands, The New Makers of Modern Strategy: From the Ancient World to the Digital Age (Princeton University Press, 2023) - focus on Lawrence Freedman, “Strategy: The History of an Idea,” pp. 17-40.

Week 2 - Non-Western Strategy

• Hal Brands, The New Makers of Modern Strategy: From the Ancient World to the Digital Age (Princeton University Press, 2023) - focus on Toshi Yoshihara, “Sun Zi and the Search for a Timeless Logic of Strategy.”

• John Sullivan, “Sun Tzu’s Fighting Words,” Strategy Bridge.

• Sun Tzu, The Art of War, trans. by Samuel B. Griffith (Oxford University Press, 1963) - focus on pp. 63-110 and 144-149.

• Kautilya, The Arthashastra, trans. by R. Shamasastry (Government Press, 1915) - focus on pp. 101-114, 119-120, 137-145, 158-163.